Dark_Oberion

Flares is great.

It has better range, better damage and faster animation these days... plus not only does it help when stacking defiance damage buffs, it is also one of the 2 ranged attacks you can shoot off when mezzed.

That and its a great attack when someone only has a small amount of health left. I see sooO many people fire off Total Focus or something like that when a mob has, like, 10hp left and its a waste of an attack, endurance and 9 times out of 10 someone shoots them before they land it.

Noone agrees on Flares these days (once upon a time everyone would have said flares suck) but these days its a very handy and valid choice.

Lots of people don't take it because they prefer other powers in the set. Thats more preference and playstyle than because "flares are rubbish".

I love 'em personally

Dark_Oberion

anyway - what was this post about???

Oh yeah - Flares.

To be honest - since the damage increase, range increase, faster animation and new Defiance I wouldn't be without flares these days.

The damage is reasonable and I personally love continuing to chip away at mezzers with 2 attacks... I hillariously took a Dom out in PvP the other day. He TK'd me and started trash talking (blah blah summin about being his b1tch) and suddenly he got abit too close. Between a couple of flares and a fire blast I managed to take his last bit of health.

If I never used flares again...ever... it would have been worth having them to have killed that guy.

mwahahahahaha

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How dare you, Sir.

Begone Controller from the blaster section - you are making me cry!

[/ QUOTE ]

Erm, he'd have to be a Kin/ defender to do a Nova like that though...

[/ QUOTE ]

exactly, defender

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah - thats what I said

[tries to make a stealth edit to post]


ummmm....

How dare you, Sir.

Begone Controller from the blaster section - you are making me cry!

one of these posts pops up every now and then. Makes me chuckle.

It only ever seems to be khelds though.... noone bothers to moan that capes can't be obtained till 20 or Auras at 30 - or that you have to get all those pesky badges and plaques in order to get those Accolades....no no.... it always seems to be Khelds that elicit the "my money is a good as anyones so I should be able to play a squid" line.

Its a strange attitude to have, I really do think. Maybe in a paralel universe, there is a verion of Earth out there which operates according to this set of rules, but it sure aint this one!

Someone will come on soon to suggest that Khelds be added as a Vet Reward, or that they be earned as a TF (someone always does...) and a sympathiser always leaps on to declare "I'm being penalised for being an Altaholic and why should one playstyle be rewarded whilst another is not"

Every game that is ever created (that is worth anything) operates an acheivement/reward mechanic which suggests to the player that a certain objective, or set of objectives will earn them such-and-such power/progression/accolade. MMOs are no different - in fact even with Khelds, City of Heroes is still one of the games that is most rewarding to casual players and varied playstyles.

Other games out there - that will remain nameless - such as World of Warcraft ( yes, I see what I did there) require you to invest thousands of hours and mindless repetetive farming/questing to obtain the best l00t. Altaholics have a far worse time of it over there, believe me (unless they are ardent RPers, happy to stand around in a few scraps of rusty armour warding enemies off with an enchanted rubber chicken, whilst they chat about...whatever i is PRers chat about....)

In City of Heroes - we have clear goals and clear choices to make about how we play the game according to what we want to get out of it.

You want a Kheld? Get a toon to 50.

PS. Have fun playing your Kheld for a day before you begin to wonder what all the fuss is about

[ QUOTE ]
If someone is holding aggro for you, Inferno is safer than Nova by a wide margin in my opinion. The danger in nuking is in the time it takes to get in to mele and fire the animation, that's when you're vulnerable to AOE attacks etc and you can manage that to a large extent by positioning. After you've used it you can be out of there immediately if you want to. At that stage I find it a lot safer to have the aggro contained where it was before, particularly if it's a Tanker managing it, than to have several angry bosses/maybe luitenents scattered around a room looking for someone to take it out on.

[/ QUOTE ]


An excellent point! and aswell as the tanker holding aggro - the survivers still remain packed enough together for other blaster and debuffer AoEs to be effecive. Far neater.

/em smuglook

[ QUOTE ]
Nova is the best looking one imo. The mobs flying in all directions appeals to me (even if its not really useful). Inferno is propably the best blaster nuke though cause of its pure damage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah - I was always a little envious of Nova's animation as Inferno - whilst sexy too - was always abit less showy, and the knockback with Nova is always pretty dramatic.

Nova might be "safer" than Inferno due to the knockback - but I'd rather have the raw damage, if I'm honest. Also - anyone know if the DoT ticks for inferno went up 50% with the recent patch?

Also - to the above poster - unfortunately I haven't taken Power Boost yet. Not sure if I will till late-game to be honest, if at all. I know what you are saying about the to-hit stuff though - so will try to make room. Might loose the snipe, and energy punch in my next respec so could take it then, maybe...

Inferno has the best bonus to it I think. Whereas Nova get knockback - inferno gets a DoT component for anything it hits but does not kill-in-one.

Does the Nova power get higher damage - or another bonus to compensate for that? I don't know - maybe someone can clarify.

In any case Inferno is a show-stopping number when use correctly. I normally get buffed up to my eyebrows and follow in on the tanks heals, pop a purple if a I have one (and any reds) hit BU+AIM and WHAM! Then I immediately pop a blue or two and hit conserver energy and carry on like nothing happened, taking out anything that dared to survive the alpha.

When the dust settles I take out a mirror - check how my hair is holding up, restyle as required and allow my team mates to take turns kissing my hand.

I slot mine with x3 Damage and x3 Recharge as I like to get it up as often as I can (Matron!) during a mish.

PS. I would like to marry Inferno and have baby-infernos with her.

I'd love to Join this!

If its not too late.... I'll be on tonight at 18.00ish as Flaymewing (can't remember my global chat handle - lol)

@Dark_Oberion I think - regular player here (most nights) and this sounds fun to me

Count me in!

I have a Fire/EM Blaster at 39 and its the fastest leveling and one of the most satisfying characters I have played. The damage I can do in melee range is astounding at time (to both me and the people I play with sometimes) and I can go toe-to-toe with most boss level types upto +2 with no worries using aim and build up followed by a barrage of energy punches (I'm in love with Total Focus since I slotted it out). On the primary side the only things I have ommitted are Rain of Fire and Flares. From the pools I have taken Hasten and Air Sup/Flight (wings toon) and combat jumping. I so want to take Aid Self but love all my powers so much I can't figure anything I want to swap out!

I alternate Aim and Build Up much of the time so that I have a more frequent boost to damage and acc cycling round - uless I want to Inferno groups of +2 or +3s and then I just pop everything and off I go!

I'm wreckless and impetuous as a Blaster and am not afraid of death or debt (its the life of a Blaster - and definately the life of a Blapper) but it makes for such enjoyable high-octane gameplay I just love it! A usually die maybe a couple of times per level which I reckon is average - maybe even below average for blasters but the combination of soft controls in EM secondary - occasional disorients, knockbacks and Knockdowns (with Air Sup) mean I can get out of most fixes relatively unscathed for the most part. I love inferno and enjoy teaming with a really good herder-tank. I slotted my inferno with 1 Acc, 3 Damage, 2 Recharge as never wanted to miss anything but as other posters have said - I'd rarely fire it off without Aim+BU first so when I respec at 42 I will take that +Acc out and put it somewhere else.

Fire/EM is abit high in terms of end so a few well-placed End Reduc in powers such as fireball and breath of fire help alot. And double Acc in as many primary attacks as you can afford.

At the end of the day I have no doubt that both Fire/EM and Fire/Fire both rock. I can only say that Fire/EM for me is the muts nuts in terms of damage and Blapping is a total Hoot!

[ QUOTE ]
Wouldn't say it went fantastically or even agree with other teammates that they were "pro", but it was a success. Even if we did have a suicidal defender and the usual one guy who insists nobody clicks the glowies and that the myth is the god's honest truth.

Well done all, and thanks Red for organising.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is it with that glowie rubbish - such an old wives tail.... I experience a wave of nausea/laughter at the guy that always says that....

I like your proposed build.

Personally - my thoughts are

3 To-Hit debuffs and then an accuracy in every attack in Nova is over kill. You could slot only 2 to-hits and still be able to hit +3's consistently.

Take a to-hit out of the form and give it to Build Up for RecRed, would be my advice. Having that power boost up more often for things like IS/RS alpha strikes (or for going into Nova) is better in my opinion.

Also - with just 2 End mod in Nova and then EndRed in all the atttacks - you would be fine. Alternatively leave in 3 if you want - but take a couple of EndRed out of powers like Nova Blast and Nova Bolt - which aren't very End heavy and give the slots to Pulsar for a much better Crowd control power than it would be with just one accuracy in it. If I'm not mistaken - Build UP, Pulsar and then Dawn Strike will mean that you are a formidable atom-bomb and some of the mob will still disoriented in the event that DS doesn't kill them completely - much better for mitigating any retaliation DS might bring but you need Disorient Duration in there to pull that off.

Also - you're attack chain in Nova doesn't really require a recharge in Nova Bolt. Take that out and maybe the one from Nova Blast too and stick those slots into Light Form if thats where you want to spend alot of time - as DamRes. If you have Hasten and you are in and out of Human form - stick Hasten on Auto so it kicks in the moment you are in Human and alot of times Hasten will be speeding up your chain in Nova anyway.

Its good but some things are needlessly sacrificed in favour of overkill somewhere else...

Justt my two-cents.

Its interesting - and totally unconfirmed what the invention systems enhancements will actually yeild - so before everyone rejoices jjust bare that in mind...

I'll agree it looks hopeful - but its all speculation at this stage....

No - don't bother slotting EndRed in the forms - hardly anyone does to my knowledge. EndMod gives you the best returns, I'm sure....

Despite the end usage - you tick back End really well in the forms so capitalise on making that better, I say...

Apart from that I wouldn't recommend 6 slots devoted to gaining/reducing End in forms anyway. a couple of end mods and a couple of To-Hit enha in Nova is the best bet to ensure you have enough end and can consistently hit mobs higher than you (within reason). 4 Slots is enough in Nova if you ask me. Any more than that and something somewhere is is undoubtedly suffering (though slot it up if you want to in the late game where you might not have anything else to slot

Heres my build.

I am currently 40 But I took the build to 50. Think my version of hero planner might be old though - not sure. There may be some (not many) errors in the order I took things but it gives you the general idea.

Its worked well for me. I have a pretty full human attack chain in the end for light form and because I tend to like being in human form alot for some reason - bit of a strange habit some might say.

Took SS and Stealth for stealthing mishes and creeping up on V/Qs.

Never got on much with Photon Seekers to respec'd out of them. Plan to slot up dwarf more at the end and took conserve energy as a last resort. Didn't fancy much else tbh. I do use Light Form but not an awful lot so only resists in it (no recharge - but have hasten)

Have endred in most human powers (and its a stamina build) due to my unexplainable liking for my human form. Think I just made myself to damn gorgeous!

I hate missing when I am in Nova so have stuck a couple of to-hits in the build and plan to put some accuracies into all but Nova Bolt before 50..

Anyway - as with anything its not for everyone but I like it for my playstyle...

Peace.

Hero Plan by Designer Hero
Program Version: 1.62
Data File Version: August 20, 2005
Designer Hero Home Page

Nova Child: Level 50 Peacebringer
Primary Power Set: Luminous Blast
Secondary Power Set: Luminous Aura
Power Pool Set: Concealment
Power Pool Set: Speed
Power Pool Set: Fitness

Hero Profile
Level 1: Glinting Eye -- Acc (A), Dmg (3), Dmg (5), Dmg (11), EndRdx (46)
Level 1: Incandescence -- ResDam (A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty (A)
Level 1: Energy Flight -- Flight (A)
Level 1: Cosmic Balance -- No Slot (A)
Level 2: Shining Shield -- ResDam (A), ResDam (3), EndRdx (40)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty (A)
Level 4: Essence Boost -- RechRdx (A), RechRdx (5), Heal (34), Heal (50)
Level 6: Bright Nova -- RecInc (A), RecInc (7), ToHit (25), ToHit (34)
Level 6: Bright Nova Bolt -- Dmg (A), Dmg (23), Dmg (31)
Level 6: Bright Nova Blast -- Dmg (A), Dmg (15), Dmg (25), Acc (43)
Level 6: Bright Nova Scatter -- Dmg (A), Dmg (7), Dmg (17), Acc (43)
Level 6: Bright Nova Detonation -- Dmg (A), Dmg (13), Dmg (23), Acc (43)
Level 8: Radiant Strike -- Acc (A), Dmg (9), Dmg (9), Dmg (11), EndRdx (46)
Level 10: Stealth -- DefBuff (A)
Level 10: Combat Flight -- Flight (A)
Level 12: Build Up -- RechRdx (A), RechRdx (13), RechRdx (17)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx (A), RechRdx (15), RechRdx (37)
Level 16: Super Speed -- Run (A)
Level 18: Incandescent Strike -- Acc (A), Dmg (19), Dmg (19), Dmg (27), EndRdx (36), RechRdx (37)
Level 20: White Dwarf -- ResDam (A), ResDam (21), ResDam (21), RecInc (40)
Level 20: White Dwarf Strike -- Acc (A), Dmg (45)
Level 20: White Dwarf Smite -- Acc (A), Dmg (33), Dmg (40), Dmg (45)
Level 20: White Dwarf Flare -- Acc (A), Dmg (29), Dmg (37), Dmg (45)
Level 20: White Dwarf Sublimation -- RechRdx (A), RechRdx (29), Heal (50)
Level 20: White Dwarf Antagonize -- RechRdx (A)
Level 20: White Dwarf Step -- EndRdx (A)
Level 22: Swift -- Run (A)
Level 24: Health -- Heal (A)
Level 26: Reform Essence -- RechRdx (A), RechRdx (27), Heal (34), Heal (50)
Level 28: Quantum Flight -- EndRdx (A)
Level 30: Stamina -- RecInc (A), RecInc (31), RecInc (31)
Level 32: Dawn Strike -- Dmg (A), Dmg (33), Dmg (33)
Level 35: Gleaming Blast -- Acc (A), Dmg (36), Dmg (36), Dmg (39), EndRdx (46)
Level 38: Light Form -- ResDam (A), ResDam (39), ResDam (39)
Level 41: Solar Flare -- Acc (A), Dmg (42), Dmg (42), Dmg (42)
Level 44: Restore Essence -- RechRdx (A)
Level 47: Luminous Detonation -- Acc (A), Dmg (48), Dmg (48), Dmg (48)
Level 49: Conserve Energy -- RechRdx (A)

Agreed - save a couple of slots from Dwarf Sublimination - a couple of recharges and a heal or couple of heals and recharge and stick some +acc in your human powers.

You could be more sparing on the forms perhaps too. Nova already has an bonus to acc and endurance so perhaps a couple of end mod and one or 2 to-hit buff would be ok. From dwarf - have a 3 slotted resist set up - but only 2-slot the end mod and save a slot their also....

You have to really make compromises with a tri-form but they have to be the right ones. Taking acc from your human blasts and human melee type powers is not a good sacrifice.

The forms already have inherent benefits to them so you don't have to go overboard - just a good boost to them is fine.

I also only 3-slot Dawn Strike for damage as it is used infrequently enough that I just pop a Yellow before firing it off instead thereby saving another slot.

Lastly - and now I go further into my opinion rather than the general concensus - I would not bother maxing out the damage of Dwarf powers at the expense of something else more useful - at least not till mid 40's or so) Its not really designed to be a high-damage form. If you solo exclusively then maybe you could but if you team (and alot of Khelds find it easier if I'm honest) then keep Dwarf your 'tanker/mez/status' resist form and don't get too hung up on doing uber damage in this form. That said if you have nothing else you want to slot then go for it!

Peace.

Please add Dark Oberion - MA/Regen/Dark Scrapper.

Almost there with my Kheld - Nova Child (currently Lvl 40) :0)